***
We left the hotel at eight o’clock on the dot. I glanced around the lobby of the average, middle-of-the-line type of place we had chosen as our resting and regrouping spot, disheartened. I don’t know what I had been expecting to see. A sign? A familiar face? Anything that would have eased my frazzled nerves and served as some small form of reassurance that I was doing the right thing, that I wasn’t on the verge of making a terrible mistake.
There’s no going back, I reminded myself for what had to be the tenth time that evening. Ashley was looking well-rested and totally adorable in the new outfit we had chosen and purchased upon our arrival in the country. She was decked out in mini hiking boots, a pair of tan cargo pants, and a lightweight coarse pale green canvas top. I was not sure if baby explorer would ever become the new haute couture, but she was still quite the sight to see in her new travel gear and snappy ponytail.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked as gently as was possible.
“Yes,” she nodded, ever my brave little soldier. “Where are we going?”
“I told you, love, we’re going on a very long walk to a very special place.”
“I know. That’s what you said earlier. But why are we waiting until it’s dark outside? I thought you always said it wasn’t safe to take a walk in the dark. That we only take walks in the daytime.” Her lower lip stuck out and it was obvious she was trying not to pout.
I sighed and placed a hand on her tiny shoulder, trying hard to think of something comforting to say. I gave her what I hoped would be seen as a reassuring smile, hugging her close as we walked out the door.
“That’s right, Ash, Mommy did say that. And usually it is better to wait for the daylight to take a walk, especially a long walk like the one we are about to take, but I promise you we’re going to be perfectly safe. Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Good because I don’t want you to worry. I am going to take care of everything. We are going to be fine. You’re safe now and you always will be.” I led her firmly from the room, not wanting to risk discussing our plans in the middle of the hotel lobby, even deserted as it was at such a late hour. Although I had not seen Jones, his men, or any other suspicious-looking people lurking about, and even though I was reasonably certain we had not been followed, I was still on edge and chose to err on the side of caution. I kept a watchful eye on our surroundings as we moved farther away from lights and civilization, each and every step taking us deeper into the shadowy, sketchy, predatory world that made up the wilderness at night.
We had walked a little over a mile when Ashley’s steps began to slow. Her thin shoulders drooped and I could tell that the poor thing was getting tired. I could only imagine what she must have been feeling.
The heat was not as intense as it would have been in the bright, sweltering light of day, but we weren’t accustomed to the significantly warmer climate and had a long way yet to go.
“Would you like to sit down for a minute?” I asked, halting our travel.
“Yes. Can I have some water?”
“Of course.” I set my pack on the ground and plunked her down on top of it, uncapped one of the bottles I had packed for our journey, and handed it to her. It was not only hot, but muggy and humid outside, and she drank nearly half of the bottle in three enormous gulps.
“I’m sorry I drank so much.” She was embarrassed.
“That’s okay. We have plenty of water. Trust me when I say we’re in no danger of running out anytime soon. Besides, we should get where we are going a lot faster than that,” I assured.
“Where are we going?”
“Well,” I took a deep breath. “We are going to a place called the Cave of Shadows.”
“It sounds scary.”
“Yes, perhaps it does,” I agreed. “The Cave of Shadows is a very old place. Ancient, really. It is documented to be over five hundred years old. Do you know how old that is, Ashley?”
“Older than Grandma?” She was awed.
I couldn’t stop the sudden spurt of laughter that escaped at her response. “Well, I don’t know about ‘older than Grandma,’” I joked. “But to answer your question truthfully, yes. Five hundred years old is definitely older than Grandma. There’s a very interesting story about the Cave of Shadows. Would you like to hear it?”
“Okay,” she nodded eagerly.
“Should I use the flashlight?” I switched the hand-held device on and held it under my chin the way I had seen her do with her friends when they told ghost stories before bed. “Five hundred years ago, an ancient high priest had a vision. And based on his vision, his dreams, really, the tribe’s elders forged a very special key. To this day, how they did it remains a mystery. But the fact is that the key was forged—created. They soon found that it led to a very magical place.”
“The place from the man’s dreams?”
“That’s right.” I nodded approvingly. “You catch on quick. Yes, the key led to the very place that the priest had seen in his vision. It was a magical place, full of strange and wonderful things. And although not all of them were good, there were wonders in this land beyond what anyone could ever have imagined.”
“So what happened to the priest?”
“No one knows. But at least one of them returned from the strange land and passed through the Cave of Shadows. And for five hundred hears, the story of the priest’s vision remained just that, a story. A legend really.”
“A legend is an old story, right?”
“More or less,” I acknowledged, impressed anew with her razor-sharp mind. “Anyway, the priest returned, and soon after they decided it was wrong of them to make special keys to special lands. So they buried the key deep in the earth.”
“Why was it wrong?” she asked with innocence that only a child could possess.
“Well now, that’s a hard question without a simple answer. Maybe it’s because they were afraid of change. Or maybe some people have a natural tendency to fear the unknown. Maybe it went against the religious code of the time. Heck, maybe they thought it just wasn’t a normal thing to do and that it would have scared people—and they would have probably been right in that assumption. But whatever their reasoning, the outcome remained the same. They buried the key, and for nearly five hundred years to the day, it remained hidden. Until the day your uncle Mike found it.”
“Did he find it at his job?”
“Yes. As a matter of fact, he did find it at his job. He was out on a site digging for his job. He was trying to find ancient artifacts for the museum so that scientists could study them and learn all they could from them, and so that people like you and me could come to the museum and learn about them as well. Artifacts from long ago people are very important pieces of our history, and we should learn all that we can from the special ones that are found.”
“Things that long ago people leave behind,” she helpfully supplied.
“Right. Things that the ancient people left behind. And that is when he found the key. Well, your uncle Mike, being the history buff that he is, remembered the story of the legend. He remembered hearing the story of the priest with the visions who had forged the key. So he read and he studied and he vowed to find the magical land. And do you know what? He did.”
“Did he go to it?”
“Yes, he did go to it. He passed through the Cave of Shadows and into the other land.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “He didn’t tell anyone where he was going, though, and I became very worried. So I found his books and papers and I figured out where he was going. I went there to try to find him,” I explained.
“You went to the magical land?” Ashley was awestruck.
“You bet. I did go to the magical land. And the most wonderful thing ever happened while I was there. Do you remember what that thing was?” I paused, peering through the darkness, trying to catch a better glimpse of her face in order to gauge her reaction. From what I would see, she looked confused. “I
found you, Ashley,” I said quietly. “You came from the magic place. Do you remember that?”
“I really came from the magic place?”
“You most certainly did. And that is how I know it’s magical.”
“I don’t like the magic land.” Ashley hunkered down and whispered after a lengthy silence, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs.
“You remember it then?” I pressed on.
“A little.” The admission was followed by more silence.
“I see. You know…it’s not something that you and I ever talk about. But I would like to.”
“I didn’t know that the magic land is where I came from.”
“You did come from there, sweetheart. In fact, I’m pretty sure you were born there. You don’t remember anything about those days?” I queried, studying her face in the dim glow cast by the flashlight and a spattering of stars high above our heads.
She merely shrugged in response. I kept trying. “Do you remember anything at all about the magic place?”
“No, just the bad men,” she confided in a hushed tone.
“Like the bad men who came after us last night?”
“Yes, I guess so. But these bad men were different. They all wore the same clothes.”
“Uniforms.”
“They all had a funny drawing on the clothes. Right here.” She pointed to her right shoulder. “It was dark yellow and looked like a bunch of curly q’s and circles. I think.” She frowned. “Well, maybe I can’t remember.”
The Mark of Kahn. The mark of evil. I shivered in the thin night air. “Ashley, did the bad men ever hurt you? The bad men in the magic place.”
“No, not me.”
“Your mom and dad, then?”
“I guess my old mom and dad. I don’t really remember. I just remember the mean people.”
“You mean the men with the uniforms? The guards?”
“No, the mean people were friends with the bad people. They took me to them when I was little.
Well, I’m little now. But when I was really little.”
I cocked my head to the side and regarded her thoughtfully. It was the first time she had spoken of the “mean people,” whoever they had been. The people who ran the orphanage? I wondered. It was hard to say and doubtful I would ever find out for sure one way or the other, but it didn’t hurt to try.
“Ash, who were the mean people?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well…was it a woman and a man? Or a group of men?”
“A man and a lady. The bad men took me to them so they could take care of me.”
“What happened?” I leaned forward on the hard-packed ground, the flashlight forgotten as it hung limply from my fingers, brushing against my leg and plunging us into deeper shadow.
“They didn’t like me. They said I was bad,” she whispered.
“Was that who hurt you?”
“Yes. I had to sleep downstairs if I was bad. Or outside. I liked sleeping outside best because of my friend.”
“Friend?” I sat up, alarmed. “Was there another child with you?”
“No, a dog.”
“Oh.”
“I left the mean people and walked a long time. But I just remember it was dark. Then I saw you. Now you’re my mama.”
“Yes, I am.” I sniffed, raw emotion threatening to take over. “And I’m going to take very good care of you. Forever and always. You got that?”
“Okay, but why are we going to the magic place with the bad men if we are trying to get away from bad men?”
“Well…” I trailed off, struggling with the question. “I guess all I can say is…we’re going there because it can also be a safe place. There are some very important people there. Some very good people who can keep us safe and help us get rid of the bad men,” I explained.
“I’m still scared,” she admitted, not looking reassured in the least by my explanation and logic.
“I know you are, sweetie. Look at it this way. The magic place is just like anywhere else. There are good people and bad people.”
“And we’re gonna find the good people?”
“Yes.” I nodded and smiled for the first time that night, truly starting to believe that.